USA > Pennsylvania > A biographical album of prominent Pennsylvanians, v. 3 > Part 27
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WILLIAM R. JONES.
Rolls," June 26, 1888; "Roll Housings," August 21, 1888; "Apparatus for Removing Ingots from Moulds," January 1, 1889. His latest and most impor- tant invention was a method and device for mixing metal taken direct from the blast furnaces, and charged into two large receiving tanks, each capable of holding eighty tons of molten metal. After the metal is thoroughly mixed it is poured into ladles and taken to converting works. This was put into operation September, 1888, and has proven to be an invaluable invention.
In 1888, in addition to his duties as General Manager of the Edgar Thomson Steel Works, he was appointed Consulting Engineer for Carnegie, Phipps & Co. He received a salary of $25,000 per year and a percentage on the product of a large mill, making a total income of almost $50,000 a year. When Johnstown was devastated by the flood of 1889 Captain Jones hastily gathered together a force of three hundred men and took them to the stricken city, where he kept them at work for some two weeks at his own expense, personally directing their efforts in the rescue of property and the bodies of the dead.
Captain Jones' death was a great shock to the community and to his friends all over the State. One of the furnaces had not been working properly during the day on which the accident occurred, and he called to see if he could ascer- tain the cause. He was superintending and directing a gang of workmen who had started to " tap " the furnace. The "tapping hole" had become clogged, and the usual sledging process was of no avail. Suddenly the whole front of the furnace fell out, and a great mass of molten metal poured out and splashed over nearly all the group, burning and mutilating them horribly. Captain Jones lin- gered with great suffering until the 28th, when death relieved him. His funeral was attended by the entire force of the establishment, which was shut down, occasioning a loss of at least $15,000 to the company ; but the request of the workmen to be allowed to attend the funeral was unhesitatingly acquiesced in.
Captain Jones was a member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Society of Western Pennsyl- vania, and the Iron and Steel Institute of Great Britain. He was a frequent contributor to the papers of these various societies on subjects relating to mechanics and Bessemer steel manufacture. He was a prominent and active member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and was chosen in 1888 Senior Vice-Commander of that order for the Department of Pennsylvania. He was also a member of the Masonic fraternity. In national politics he was an unswerving Republican, and a strong and firm believer in a judicious and fair protective policy.
Captain Jones was united in marriage, April 14, 1861, at Chattanooga, Tenn., to Harriet Lloyd, but, owing to his outspoken loyalty to the Union, he was com- pelled to flee North with his bride a few days after their wedding. Four chil- dren were born to them, of whom, however, but two survive him. The living children are a son, W. M. C. Jones, and a daughter, Cora, both of whom have attained their majority. The son is engaged at the Edgar Thomson Steel Works as Engineer and Surveyor, R. W. H.
F. GUTEKUNST.
PHILA.
THADDEUS S. C. LOWE.
THADDEUS S. C. LOWE.
P ROFESSOR THADDEUS S. C. LOWE, the distinguished inventor, aeronaut and scientist, was born, August 20, 1832, at Jefferson, N. H., and is the son of Clovis and Alpha Greene Lowe of that town. His mother was a daughter of Mr. Thomas Greene, of Berlin Falls, N. H., and on both sides he is descended from the early Pilgrims, who came from England in the seventeenth century. Mr. Lowe enjoyed only a common school education, in early life working on a farm between the age of ten and fourteen years. The only opportunity for attending school was about three months in each year during the winter, walking a distance of two miles, and frequently being compelled to make the journey on snow-shoes. During this period the best opportunity for study was in the even- ings by the light of knots industriously gathered in early autumn while laying in the winter's supply of wood. Mr. Lowe's favorite studies were chemistry, natural philosophy and kindred subjects.
In his fifteenth year he left his mountain home, walking to Portland, Maine, a distance of one hundred miles, and thence he went by water to Boston, where he apprenticed himself for three years to the trade of boot and shoe cut- ting. At the close of his apprenticeship he was enabled to earn sufficient money to admit of pursuing his studies. He selected medicine as a specialty, and at the age of twenty-one he commenced the practice of medicine. Although very successful for his years, he so disliked the practice that instead of perma- nently establishing himself he went on a lecturing tour of several years' duration. Before this, however, he taught a class in chemistry for a short time. He lec- tured on scientific matters, mostly confined to interesting chemical experiments in which the various gases played an important part. In this he was eminently successful, entertaining large audiences and constantly gaining for himself much valuable information.
In 1857 he began to study aeronautics, and made numerous aerial voyages in different parts of the country, his first one being from Ottawa, Canada, in 1858, in celebration of the laying of the first Atlantic cable. In 1859 he constructed the largest aerostat ever built; or which will probably ever be constructed. It was intended for voyages across the ocean, which he estimated could be done in three days by taking advantage of the ever constant eastward current which invariably prevailed, as he had noticed was the case in all the numerous voyages he had previously made. His idea in constructing this air-ship was to endeavor to compensate in a measure for the temporary failure of the Atlantic cable, hoping thereby to be able to communicate with Europe more quickly than by steamers, which were then much slower than at the present time. This aerostat was one hundred and fifty feet perpendicular diameter by one hundred and four feet transverse diameter, the upper portion being spherical. When fully inflated with
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hydrogen its atmospheric displacement amounted to a lifting force of twenty-two and a half tons. It had for its outfit besides a car with all the necessary scientific instruments, provisions, etc., a complete Francis metallic life-boat, schooner- rigged, much larger than several that have successfully crossed the ocean since. The gas envelope weighed over two tons, while the network and other cordage weighed over one and a half tons. It was quite late in the autumn before this monarch of balloons was completed. The Professor procured the site of the New York Crystal Palace, which building had been destroyed by fire, and clear- ing away the debris of that once fine structure he, on the Ist of November, 1859, began the inflation of this monster aerostat for the voyage, but owing to a lack in the supply of gas from the street mains whereby six days would be required to inflate instead of one day, which was necessary for a successful use of the gas, the attempt at that time had to be abandoned. There was scarcely a newspaper in the civilized world but that noticed at the time the extensive preparations for this undertaking, and all sorts of comments were made regarding it.
In the spring of 1860, by invitation of a number of members of the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia, Professor Lowe went to that city, where Mr. John C. Cresson, then President of the Gas Works, promised the necessary rapid supply of gas for a trial trip to test the feasibility of inflating and launching into the air this immense aeronautic machine. Older aeronauts from all parts of the world had predicted that it could not be successfully accomplished with an aerostat of this size. Notwithstanding these predictions the trial trip was successfully made from the Point Breeze Gas Works in June, 1860, where four hundred thousand cubic feet of gas were furnished in four hours. The Professor took with him on this trip five passengers, among whom were Mr. Garrick Mallory, of the Phila- delphia Inquirer, who wrote an account of the trip which was published in that journal at the time. In this ascension and voyage two and a half miles of alti- tude was attained in passing over the city of Philadelphia, and when near Atlantic City a descent was made to a lower current which wafted the great air-ship back to within eighteen miles of Philadelphia, when a landing was effected. This immense balloon was handled with so much skill that the departure from the earth with the weight of over eight tons and the return again were so gentle that the passengers it carried would hardly have known when they left or when they landed had they not seen it accomplished.
So well pleased were Professor Lowe's friends at his successful management of an aerostat six times larger than any one ever before built that they recom- mended him to visit Professor Joseph Henry of the Smithsonian Institute, and furnished him with a letter signed by some of the most prominent journalists and citizens of Philadelphia.
It is almost needless to say that the distinguished savant received Professor Lowe with extreme warmth and congeniality, giving him the freedom of the institution, and showing him marked attention, and from this meeting sprang a lasting friendship.
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THADDEUS S. C. LOWE.
During Professor Lowe's intercourse with Professor Henry he outlined a plan for taking meteorological observations at different parts of the continent, and from high altitudes by means of balloons and communicating the same by tele- graph to a bureau to be established in Washington whereby weather predictions could be made useful exactly in the same way as it is to-day done by the United States Signal Service. To Professor Lowe the Government is as much indebted as to any other one man for the successful establishment of that service, for it was his plans, frequently and freely communicated to General, then Major, Meyer during the war, that led to its establishment after the close of the rebel- lion. There is now in existence considerable correspondence between Professor Lowe and the late Professor Henry, General Meyer, and others, upon this subject.
Upon the recommendation of Professor Henry, preparatory to attempting a transatlantic voyage, Professor Lowe made a voyage across the continent in a smaller aërostat, starting from Cincinnati, Ohio, at four o'clock on the morning of April 20, 1861, after taking leave of his friends, among whom were Messrs. Potter and Murat Halstead, of the Cincinnati Commercial. He landed on the South Carolina coast at twelve o'clock the same day, making the quickest and longest voyage on record, delivering papers at about a thousand miles distant from his starting point while still damp from the press in eight hours after they were printed. This voyage was fraught with great interest, both scientific and otherwise, and long accounts of it were published at the time. Landing in this way in South Carolina in less than two weeks after the firing on Fort Sumter caused considerable excitement in the rebel lines, and Professor Lowe was arrested and imprisoned, but upon producing proofs demonstrating the scientific objects of the voyage he was released, and, after five days and nights of railroad- ing, found himself back in Cincinnati, the point from which he had so recently travelled the same distance in eight hours.
Secretary Chase, then a member of Mr. Lincoln's cabinet, telegraphed, at the request of the President, to Professor Lowe requesting him to go to Washington and consult with him as to the use of balloons for war purposes. He immedi- ately went and was received by the President with marked attention, spending a night at the Executive Mansion. These interviews resulted in obtaining author- ity for the organization of the corps of observation, or Aeronautic Corps, with Professor Lowe at its head as chief aeronaut of the United States Army, which : position he held for three years, during which time he rendered invaluable service to the Government. At the end of this time his health became so much impaired that he turned his department over to one of his assistants, and retired to a farm in Chester county, Pa., with the hope of regaining his health. The services rendered the Government during his connection with the army were of immense value, as testified to by the commander-in-chief and numerous corps commanders who had received valuable information which enabled them to better govern their movements. During this time he made personally over three thousand as-
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censions, and was the first and only person to establish telegraphic communications from a balloon to various portions of the army and to Washington at the same time. Conspicuous among these ascensions were those at the battle of Fair Oaks. Balloons with assistant aeronauts instructed by Professor Lowe were sent to the different armies, including the forces on the Southern coast and in the West. To make these war balloons efficient on land and water it became necessary to make many new inventions, conspicuous among which were Professor Lowe's hydrogen gas generators for field and ship service. At any time within three hours after halting beside a pool of water he could extract sufficient hydrogen therefrom to inflate one of the balloons, whereby himself and often several officers would ascend one or two thousand feet into the air and overlook the country.
Professor Lowe's fame spread over Europe and South America, and his field system of aeronautics was introduced into the British, French and Brazilian armies. The Emperor of the latter nation, through his ministers, made numer- ous overtures and offered large inducements to Professor Lowe to accept a Major-General's commission in the Brazilian army during the Paraguayan war to conduct the same line of service as that rendered to the Government of the United States, but owing to other engagements he was compelled to decline the offer. He furnished, however, the necessary field apparatus and balloons, with competent assistants, who rendered valuable aid and greatly shortened the dura- tion of that war.
In 1867 Professor Lowe invented and brought out the ice machine for refrig- erating purposes and the manufacture of ice, which is now in general use in all parts of the world. In 1872-75 he invented and brought out his famous water- gas process for illuminating and heating purposes, which is already lighting over four hundred cities, and with his later invention for the production of fuel water- gas, and his indestructible compounds for incandescent lighting, is rapidly superseding all other methods and processes for furnishing light, heat and power.
At the last exhibition of the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia Professor Lowe received three medals and a diploma-the most ever awarded to any one man by the institute. The first was a diploma and silver medal for his general exhibit of gas works and appliances; second, the "Elliott Cresson" gold medal for " Water Gas and Incandescent Lighting ; " third, the " Grand Medal of Honor for the Invention held to be the Most Useful to Mankind."
Professor Lowe was happily married in 1855 to Miss Leontine Augustine Gachon, of New York, who was born and educated in Paris. He is eminently a domestic man, and has a large family of children, whose names are as follows: Louise F., Ida Alpha, Leon Percival, Ava Eugenie, Augustine Margaret, Blanche, Thaddeus, Edna, Zoc and Sobieski. The three eldest were born in New York.
C. R. D.
F. CUTEKUNST.
PHILA,
HORACE SEE.
HORACE SEE.
H ORACE SEE, one of the most eminent mechanical engineers of this country, late Superintendent Engineer of the ship-building firm of William Cramp & Sons, and now Consulting Engineer in New York city, was born in Phila- delphia, July 16, 1835. His father, R. Colhoun See, was senior member of the silk-importing houses of See & Remington and See Brothers, which during their existence, prior to the rebellion, did a large trade in the South and West. He was a member of the First Troop, Philadelphia City Cavalry, and turned out with that command when they escorted Lafayette into the city upon his memo- rable visit to America. The family is of French origin, being one of those which, with the Naudains, Bayards and others, settled in Delaware after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, the Sees having located in St. George's Hun- dred, in that State. Mr. See's mother was Margaretta, daughter of Eber Hilyard, originally of Burlington county, N. J., whose ancestors, members of the Society of Friends, came from England and settled near Rancocas, in that county and State.
Mr. See received his education in the private schools of Philadelphia, among which were the Episcopal Academy and the school of H. D. Gregory. At the age of seventeen he was apprenticed to I. P. Morris & Co., proprietors of the Port Richmond Iron Works, of Philadelphia, to learn mechanical engineering, his time being divided between the drawing office and the machine shop. After the completion of his apprenticeship he was engaged with Messrs. Neafie & Levy, of Philadelphia, the National Iron Armor and Ship Building Company of Camden, N. J., and Mr. George W. Snyder, of Pottsville, Pa., as draughtsman and engineer.
In 1871 he was engaged by Messrs. Cramp & Son as draughtsman and engi- neer, and shortly afterwards was employed by them as chief draughtsman, and in 1878 as Superintendent Engineer, which position he resigned in July, 1889. Messrs. Cramp & Sons were the first to introduce on this side of the Atlantic the compound and triple-expansion engines. Here Mr. See found congenial employment, and scope for his ability and ideas. During the administration of President Cleveland the firm was conspicuous in presenting original designs for the cruisers "Newark" and " Philadelphia," and the gun-boats "Yorktown," "Bennington " and "Concord," and the dynamite cruiser " Vesuvius "-all of which they built, or are now constructing for the National Government. The engines on these vessels are all on the triple-expansion type, from designs by Mr. See. During the time that he held the position of Superintendent Engineer with the Messrs. Cramp & Sons he designed the machinery for the yacht " Atalanta," which the firm built for Mr. Jay Gould, celebrated for its speed and credited as the fastest pleasure yacht afloat ; also of the yachts "Corsair " and
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. HORACE SEE.
"Stranger ;" the steamships " Chalmette " and "Eureka," and their sister ships of the Morgan line ; the " Mariposa " and the " Alameda," of Mr. J. D. Spreckles & Brothers' line to the Sandwich Islands and Australia, which have made better time than any other vessels plying on that route; of the " Queen of the Pacific," the fastest steamer plying between Portland, Oregon, and San Francisco; of the "Tacoma " and " San Pablo," belonging to the Central Pacific Railroad Com- pany ; of the "H. F. Dimock " and the " Herman Winter " of the Metropolitan line, plying between New York and Boston, as well as other merchant vessels.
All of the above have engines of the compound type, and contain many novel features covered by letters patent issued to Mr. See. He also designed the triple-expansion engines for the "Mascotte " and "Olivette," of the Plant line between Tampa, Florida, and Havana, Cuba, which vessels have greatly reduced the running time between those points. He also designed the machinery for the " Cherokee," "Seminole " and "Iroquois," of Messrs. W. P. Clyde & Co.'s Charleston and Jacksonville line, and the engines for the twin screw steamboat " Monmouth," on the Sandy Hook route of the New Jersey Central Railroad Company-a departure in passenger transportation in New York harbor, which has demonstrated the superiority of this style of propulsion over that in vogue before her introduction both in economy and speed. The economy of the triple- expansion type of engine which has been reached by carrying steam of a high pressure and expanding it in three cylinders, and the necessity for limiting the range of expansion and temperature in each cylinder of a steam-engine during one stroke, was presented and explained by Mr. See in a paper read before the Engineers' Club of Philadelphia on June 21, 1884, and published in No. 4, Vol. IV., of the Proceedings of the Club, issued in November of that year. A number of improvements in the design and pattern of marine engines have been patented by Mr. See. One of the most important of these has been that of fitting up the crank shafts and bearings, which has done so much to improve the working of the engine, as well as to reduce the amount of wear and minimize the risk of breakage of this particular part of it. Engines with shafts fitted up this way, contrary to the popular belief that they must be run some time before the bearings are in proper working shape, are ready as soon as built to be run at the highest speed designed for them, without causing any trouble or the use of water during the entire first trip or voyage of the vessel. The main feature of this improvement, which was presented by Mr. See in a paper read before the American Society of Mechanical Engineers at Chicago, is in making the journals and bearings true, and employing such tools and methods that make a repetition of such excellence a certainty. The old way of working was conspicuous for the absence of this certainty. The improvement has been covered by patents in the United States and Great Britain. It has always been Mr. See's aim as an engineer to produce work of a superior quality, and not only to give durability to the machinery, but to make it capable of accomplishing the best results. This is exemplified by the superior performance of the machinery of the vessels turned out of late years by
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Messrs. Cramp & Sons. They have been remarkable for their speed, and for the excellent results obtained on even their first trial trips. This was notably the case in the " Vesuvius," the cruiser furnished for the Government of the United States, which, after attaining on its official trial a speed of over twenty-one and a half knots, was none the worse for wear, and ready to make another trip at once of the same severity if it had been deemed necessary. On this trip her engines developed over four thousand three hundred and sixty-six indicated horse-power, or at the rate of seventeen and one-half horse-power to the ton weight of machinery and water. These satisfactory results were due, in a great measure, to the superior workmanship and care expended on these engines.
In an editorial, entitled "The 'Vesuvius' and its Builders," the Philadelphia Inquirer, in its issue of January 14, 1889, said :
" If the engineer who designed, and the head of the firm that built, the ' Vesuvius' had been subjects of one of the great European powers, they would probably be knighted or receive some other substantial proof of favor in recognition of their magnificent genius. Being plain American citizens they are very glad to have their work accepted by the autocratic gentleman at the head of the Navy Department, and will think themselves sufficiently rewarded if favored with further orders at living prices.
" Their achievement is one of no ordinary character. It took brains as well as capital to build a vessel that can distance all the cruisers on which other countries have spent years of costly experimenting. If the armament of the ' Vesuvius' shall prove as effective as her engines and her model, she will stand at the head of the world's navies, and inaugurate a new type of naval warfare as completely as did that other American invention, the ' Monitor.'
" The yards of William Cramp & Sons, and others along the Delaware, have shown themselves able to compete with any in the world in building swift steamers. They have not the facilities for making the heavier grades of iron armor, and it is just as well that they have not, for heavily armored ships are becoming to be regarded as floating coffins at best ; and, if the dynamite gun of the ' Vesuvius' shall fulfil its inventor's expectations, all the iron-clads afloat may as well be broken up for old iron. A single, well-delivered dynamite shell will send the best of them to the bottom.
" There was a time when American shipyards led the world. Thanks to the enterprise of the Cramps and their competitors, and the more enlightened policy which the American Government has shown of late, that time seems about to return. The ' Vesuvius' certainly is an evidence of it."
Other papers were as enthusiastic in their congratulations to the firm, and the Secretary of the Navy telegraphed from Washington upon receipt of the news of the result of the trial trip as follows : "I congratulate you upon the trial of the 'Vesuvius.' Considering the size and class of the vessel, and the weight carried, you can justly claim to have surpassed all records heretofore made."
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